"Who's in your phonebook?"

If there are people in your life who continually disappoint you, break promises, stomp on your dreams, are too judgmental and critical of you, have really different values and don't have your back during difficult times, they are not your friends.

Friends want what’s best for you and keep their promises. They share your dreams and encourage you. Friends are people you share values with about what’s really important in life. They protect your back in the tough times.

Sometimes in life as you grow, your friends will either grow with you or go away from you. Over the years, my phone book has changed entries because I changed…and for the better. I made better and healthier choices that grew my spirit closer to God.

Now at first I was afraid I would be alone, without any friends, but after a while new people showed up in my life that made my life so much sweeter and easier to endure. God sends those angels to you.

So as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living today, choose some good friends.

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey

"Got gifts?"

On March 23rd of last year, I shared a story about how my aunt gave a special Christmas present to my brother and me. She gave us two vases that looked just look alike and came from my grandparents’ home. She included with them a letter about the vases, telling us how they were special because they were part of a pair. And how she gave them to us to remind us of how even though those vases are apart now, they still belong to each other. Just like my brother and I, though separated by miles, belong to each other as family.

Well, someone who listens to life with us through my blog at drjoey.blogspot.com wrote: “I have adult boys who, for the most part, get along beautifully, but don’t always see eye to eye. This particular story caught my eye and I clipped it on my mirror. So for Christmas, I gave identical candle holders to each of them. I ‘used’ your article along with them, and both boys have the candle holders where they see them every day!”

Ask God who you can gift in a special relationship like this. You’ll be amazed as you listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey

"What were you worried about two weeks ago?"

I want you to think really hard for a second. What were you worried about two weeks ago? Can you remember?

To be truthful I can’t remember what it was that I was worried about either. Amazing, isn’t it? It seemed so real at the time, so life-threatening, so powerful and now we can’t even remember what it was.

Now if you’re listening to life and making a life, not just a living, what can you learn from not being able to remember what you were worried about two weeks ago? Maybe that there is no problem so great that it could stop life, the world or even you and me from seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, from hoping for the best even when things seem at their worst, from knowing that everything is going to be all right one way or another.

What is your light at the end of your tunnel? Don't think too hard this time. Just listen to life today for what God has to say, focus on making a life, not just a living, and forget about worrying so much. You see, the light at the end of your tunnel isn’t a train. It’s God.

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey

"What’s the best present you’ve ever received?"

In the movie, Father of the Bride, the young groom-to-be gives his bride-to-be a wedding gift. He gives her a supremely practical, utterly useful, commonsense gift. He gives her a blender.

When the bride-to-be opens her gift, she bursts into tears, runs up to her room, and calls off their wedding. Why?

If you don't know why, then you've probably given your wife a blender. No, seriously, if you don't know why, then you don't know the joy of receiving a gift you never would have thought to ask for. Besides, what's the good of a gift you could give yourself? You see, when you unwrap a gift you never would have thought to ask for, you also discover joy and happiness, love and compassion, surprise and excitement.

Every day God gives us a gift that we can’t give ourselves and probably never would have thought to ask for. What’s the gift? The gift is this very moment. Yea I know it’s Monday, but unwrap this moment and listen to life and make a life, not just a living today.

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey

"See the pit crews yesterday?"

NASCAR racing is so popular now. Hundreds of thousands of fans crowd into luxury boxes and “chicken bone” seats just to watch their favorite drivers go as fast as they can around oval tracks like Daytona. The drivers are the real celebrities here, making millions of dollars.

But while all of this high profile, big money activity is going on, down in the pits is a team of guys who aren’t asked to endorse anything. In fact, they’ll never get their faces on anybody’s box of cereal. But without this team of guys working together to change tires, fill gas tanks, make track bar adjustments, and clean windshields, the driver has to quit.

It’s the same with us just like it is with the driver. God has a team of people helping our lives go around daily. Just think for a moment about all the people who helped you today—family members, coworkers, retail clerks, bank tellers, law enforcement officers, rescue personnel, and the list goes on. So today, let’s give thanks for all the teams of people—wherever they are—who keep us going.

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey